Songwriting Challenges
The song writing challenges are a weekly challenge set between fellow songwriters as an exercise in creativity. Initially, this was done in order to prepare for the Knoydart Retreat as we expected there would be challenges on the retreat and we wanted to be prepared for the challenge by getting practice of writing to order. A good exercise anyway, and for me personally has pushed me to write songs that I might not otherwise have produced. Some songs produced through this process have been developed and released. Some are just acoustic demos. Others produced with bigger arrangements. The songs on this page are those that would not have made it to an album or are unlikely to be formally released or played live.
Challenge: Write a song based on a Shakespeare play.
I'd studied Macbeth for O'Level (a long time ago) so this was my go to play for this challenge. Also, to try out some of the lessons from the Knoydart songwriting retreat, so I used an alternate tuning, and put in an unreliable narrator. A narrator who is keen on getting ahead by causing a bit of chaos.
Challenge: Write a song to create a character and describe that character.
This became a song about listening to people and being kind to them. I was pleased with the Tin Whistle solo in this one.
Challenge: Write a song just using minor chords.
As well as being all minor chords the lyrics became about constraints in artistic freedom. Can you really write just what you want?
